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[centre][i]The soldier left home
his wife and unborn child too
but doom awaited[/centre][/i]
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[Centre][b]Vates and Vortex[/centre][/b]
The young man brushed his clammy hands through his yellow straw like hair. His eye twitched nervously a he awaited his guests, fearful that he would someone end up dead. He swallowed in a futile effort to counter the rising sick that he could feel. [i]They should be here by now[/i] he thought frantically to himself, [i]what if they’re not coming, what if they’ve been captured… or what if this is just a trap for me?[/i] He could take waiting no longer, but as he turned to escape the scene a blade found itself resting under his chin, the cold metal tickling his neck. 

“Where do you think you’re going Tobias?” a voice whispered seductively in his ear. His response was unlikely to be expected for he suddenly wrenched forward and emptied the contents of his stomach onto the mud.

“Still suffering with the nervousness I see. Sorry about Sierra here, she likes to surprise people.” Vates chuckled as he appeared from the nearby treeline, “We would have come out sooner but we wanted to make sure that you were good to your word and that you weren’t followed.” 

Unbeknownst to Tobias there were still two more people hiding in the nearby flora. Kansas and Benny were laid in the dirt, watching silently for any other signs of movement. Tobias, who was now kneeling in the dirt, grimaced at the remnants of his curry and winced as its heat burned his throat; it seemed to do more damage coming up than going down. Vates nodded to Vortex prompting her to help him raise their new contractor to his feet. 

“I thought you were dead. You were in Sovereign. How are you here?” Tobias’ eyes wandered over Vates and Vortex, still struggling to believe what he was seeing. 

“I’m very much alive Tobias. Now, as much as I’d like to catch up we need to get moving and you need to do what I have asked.” Vates glanced approvingly at Tobias’ bag before alliterating his task, “I need you to head almost due West of here, to the coordinates I gave you. There you’ll find a military transport shuttle. I need you to fly it to the North then dispose of it. If you head to Brenner you can find more than adequate payment in the storage locker I told you about.” 

Tobias gently rocked his head backwards and forwards in what seemed more like a trance than a understanding nod. Without asking any questions or bidding the two goodbye he wandered off towards the west. Vates and Vortex looked at each other with raised eyebrows. “You really think he’s up for the task? He seemed brain-dead to me.” Sierra looked back at the figure who, by the way he walked, looked like he may have defecated himself.

“He’s not the brightest spark but he always pulled through in the past. Maybe us being here really is a shock to the people on the outside? Who knows what they think has been going on; they might know more than us, or they might know nothing at all.” 

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[centre][i]A river of blood 
skin and bones torn asunder
he could not save them[/centre][/i]
---
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